The invention relates to a storage system having a number of M storage media, having a number of N data producers each providing a data stream and each having one or more data members, and having a storage management device for distributing the data streams from the N data producers to the M storage media. The invention also relates to a method for setting up the storage system.
Storage systems of a conventional architecture may have a plurality of data-producing devices and a plurality of storage media which are arranged in a network and store the data from the data-producing units. The storage media are distributed to the data-producing units using a storage manager which is also responsible for the so-called load balancing which is intended to ensure that the storage media are optimally used and the recording onto other storage media can be continued if individual storage media fail. In this case, the storage manager may, in principle, freely access all storage media in a network.
In the field of surveillance systems with surveillance cameras in particular, the organization of the storage of the data produced is a challenge since, on the one hand, the surveillance cameras produce large quantities of data and, on the other hand, it is particularly desirable for the user for these data to be stored without interruption and, in particular, without failure.
In this context, the document DE10301455A1 which probably forms the closest prior art discloses a method for recording video/audio data. In the method, it is proposed that a local data store is connected, via data coupling, to at least one recording apparatus which has a greater storage capacity than the local data store, thus forming a virtual data store for the recording apparatus. The recording apparatus may have a multiplicity of storage media. The method is fundamentally also referred to as the NVR (Network Video Recording) principle.